4 views left Get unlimited views with a free account

Explore the latest trends and actionable insights on the COVID Vaccine market to inform business strategy and pinpoint opportunities and risks

COVID-19 and Antiviral Pills

Industry: Infectious Disease
Current: Other Industry Indicators

New oral antiviral pills Paxlovid and Molnupiravir reduce the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 by 88% and 30%, respectively
Canada is the latest country to authorize the use of Pfizer’s Paxlovid for the treatment of coronavirus infection
Pfizer is projected to produce 120 million courses of treatment in 2022

COVID-19 and Antiviral Pills

On December 31, 2019, China reported the first case of coronavirus in Wuhan. Since then, the world has been in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the coronavirus mutating frequently to cause a huge load of cases. Many pharmaceutical companies have come forward with drugs and vaccines to put an end to the coronavirus. Currently, around 10 vaccines have been rolled out in various countries, while more than eight vaccines are expected to be reviewed and launched in 2022.

Nearly 3.92 billion people have been vaccinated globally, but the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been evading antibodies induced by these vaccines. As new variants are emerging, new treatments are required to minimize the risk of progression of coronavirus disease. Oral antiviral treatment could be one of the effective ways, given the clinical trial results of novel drugs Paxlovid and Molnupiravir from Pfizer and Merck, respectively.

COVID-19 Oral Antiviral Drugs

Antiviral drugs are medications used to treat viral infections and target more specific viruses, unlike antibiotics which directly attack the target pathogen, while antiviral drug inhibits the development of the pathogen. Remdesivir is one of the few antiviral drugs that can be administered intravenously to treat coronavirus disease and is effective in reducing recovery time in patients but has little or no effect on mortality risk.

In December 2021, the US FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for two new oral antiviral drugs for the treatment of mild to moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and who are at high risk of developing severe illness. Pfizer’s Paxlovid is authorized for adults and pediatric patients aged 12 years or older and weighing at least 40 kg. This drug has shown promise during trials by reducing the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 by 88%. Molnupiravir is another antiviral drug manufactured by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to treat COVID-19. This drug is authorized for use in patients above 18 years of age, and it reduces the risk of hospitalization or death by about 30%. These oral antiviral drugs are convenient to use compared to previous approved antiviral drugs, which had to be administered intravenously. However, these pills must be taken in the first five days after the onset of symptoms to get the benefit of a lower risk of hospitalization and death.

On January 17, 2022, Canada approved the use of Pfizer’s oral antiviral drug Paxlovid at home as the Omicron-fuelled increase in COVID cases is expected to cause an increase in hospitalization. Canada recently received 30,400 courses of Paxlovid and expects the delivery of another 120,000 courses by March 2022. Canada, Australia, Israel, Italy, South Korea, the UK, and the US are the first few countries to approve the use of Paxlovid. Other countries such as Indonesia, Switzerland, Belgium, and Thailand have expressed interest in Merck’s antiviral drug Molnupiravir.

Need for Oral Antiviral Drugs

These oral antiviral drugs are being considered as a gamechanger in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The social media mentions of Paxlovid have gone up and are trending, as people pin hopes on this new drug. In countries where fatality rates are high despite vaccination, oral antiviral drugs could play an important role in curbing the infections. These antiviral drugs are cheap and can be administered orally, which makes them easier to transport and affordable, especially for countries in financial distress.

The oral antiviral drug in combination with vaccines can potentially put an end to the pandemic, but these antiviral drugs are in short supply as demand increased significantly. At the JP Morgan Healthcare conference last week, Pfizer CEO revealed that the company is scaling up manufacturing capacity for the pills – from early November projections of 50 million courses of treatment in 2022 to 120 million treatments.

Explore the latest trends and actionable insights on the COVID Vaccine market to inform business strategy and pinpoint opportunities and risks Explore the latest trends and actionable insights on the COVID Vaccine market to inform business strategy and pinpoint opportunities and risks Visit Report Store